World’s largest airtanker federally approved to fight wildfires

World’s largest airtanker federally approved to fight wildfires

28 July 2017

USA – REDDING, Calif. – A new tool that may be a game-changer in fighting wildfires has been given federal approval.

It’s being called a “jumbo air tanker,” the largest of its kind in the world.

The Boeing 747 plane, a model used as a passenger airplane, has been approved to fight wildfires in California and a county in Colorado.

Global Supertanker Services CEO, Jim Wheeler said it’s expected to put out fires quicker, saving more homes and lives.

“These fires are horrific, and they’re going to continue to be horrific because we’ve got an issue with the warming, and we also have an issue with people moving out further and further into the wildland urban interface areas,” Wheeler said.

The company is contracted with CAL FIRE, and is working to contract with the US Forest Service.

The tanker can carry up to 19,200 gallons of fire retardant, suppressant and water.

It fights fires both on land and water.

“We’re also the only very large aerial tanker certified for oil spill remediation because in addition to wildland fires, we do marine fires,” Wheeler said.

In the last ten months, Wheeler said they’ve used the 747 on fires in Chile and Israel.

Wheeler said they have been working on getting a contract with US Forest Service for a year.

However, the Forest Service only allows a maximum carrying capacity of 5,000 gallons, which Wheeler is still unclear as to why.

“The fact that you can put so much down at one time means that you have less flights are less trips to make to cover the same amount of area. We’re four to six times the 3,000 to 5,000 gallon limit,” Wheeler said.

In a statement issued by the Forest Service, under certain circumstances, limited contractual options are available for very large air tankers like the 747.

Wheeler said they will continue working towards a full contract with the Forest Service.

An international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

Over the past 15 years, California and neighboring regions have experienced heighteneddrought conditions and an increase inwildfire numbers with considerable impacts on human livelihoods, agriculture, and terrestrial ecosystems. This new research shows that in addition to a discernible contribution from natural forcings and human-induced global warming, the large-scale difference between Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperatures plays a fundamental role in causing droughts, and enhancing wildfire risks.

“Our results document that a combination of processes is at work. Through an ensemble modeling approach, we were able to show that without anthropogenic effects, the droughts in the southwestern United States would have been less severe,” says co-author Axel Timmermann, Director of the newly founded IBS Center for Climate Physics, within the Institute for Basics Science (IBS), and Distinguished Professor at Pusan National University in South Korea. “By prescribing the effects of man-made climate change and observed global ocean temperatures, our model can reproduce the observed shifts in weather patterns and wildfire occurrences.”

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-atlanticpacific-ocean-temperature-difference-fuels.html#jCpAn international team of climate researchers from the US, South Korea and the UK has developed a new wildfire and drought prediction model for southwestern North America. Extending far beyond the current seasonal forecast, this study published in the journal Scientific Reports could benefit the economies with a variety of applications in agriculture, water management and forestry.

28. July 2017/by GFMCadmin